February 13, 2009

I'm IN Tucson but not OF Tucson, says state rep.

The Arizona Daily Star has an item on a state representative from Tucson who objects to having that city associated with his name, as in the ID "state Rep. Frank Antenori, R-Tucson." (Hat tip to Alan Ehrenhalt at The Ballot Box.)

Antenori prefers the more generic “Southern Arizona,” because he rightly points out that his legislative district, No. 30, reaches far past the city limits.

But nevertheless, Antenori does live in Tucson, in East side Mesquite Ranch, to be exact. “I don’t represent Tucson as a whole,” said Antenori. “I live in Tucson, but on the very edge of it — 400 feet from the border.”

Not that Antenori's attitude is so surprising. Expressing disdain toward big cities has long been considered a prerequisite to winning suburban votes. This is even true in densely populated Massachusetts. See, for example, this account by Jon Keller of a 2001 special election in a district that was mostly suburban but also included a big chunk of Boston:

In a mass mailing and print ad campaign targeted at suburban voters during the final days before the special primary preceding the election, [state Sen. Brian] Joyce argued for changes in a state formula for distributing public-school aid that favored Boston at the expense of the suburbs. "THEY WANT TO KEEP TAKING OUR MONEY AND GIVING IT TO THEIR NEIGHBORHOODS!" screamed the ad. "DON'T LET THEM DO IT!" His opponents, Joyce wrote - both Boston city councillors - opposed a change to the education funding formula that would benefit suburban schools and taxpayers.

"It was an amazing piece of literature for someone looking to run in a district that has a piece of Boston," recalls one of the aforementioned city councillors, Maureen Feeney. "It was almost like a subliminal message - us against them."

And within big cities, you can often find people who don't like to be associated with the neighborhoods they actually live in. See, for example, the reluctance of people in certain parts of Boston to admit they have a Roxbury zip code.